Zugzwang

{This is in response to a prompt from Friday Fictioneers, run by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. The job is to write 100 words inspired by the picture. The title, Zugzwang, is a chess term, defined as “the obligation to move, where any move would be bad.” I got this definition from a list of chess terms defined at Chesscentral.com. In German, Zug means a move, and zwingen means to force someone to do something, Zugzwang is when you must make a move, even if it is to your disadvantage. All errors are my own. Thank you for the prompt, and thanks for coming by to read!}

The marble chessboard, again. Axel squirmed, his lithe frame, folding in upon itself.

“Play you for it!” Father muttered. Had there been a spittoon, he would have spat. Finding none, his sweaty hands re-soiled his grimy mechanic’s pants.

Thank you so much, Priya! I am always fascinated how other languages express concepts, often more concisely than English can. One of my favorite examples in German is “bunt,” which means colorful, as in multi-colored, and another is “Sauwetter”, which means sow ( female pig) weather, or nasty weather.

Oh Rochelle, I actually heard the word “kaddish” on national news, after the atrocious events of this week, and thought of your books title. They were describing how volunteers from the synagogue were staying with the bodies according to custom despite the site being declared a crime scene. It was very touching.

I know it is too soon, but I look forward to your imparting some of your wisdom in these deeply troubling and perplexing times.

True. I think the ambiguity lies in the sentence “Axel tipped his king.” Who does “his” refer to?

Not sure, since Im not an expert at chess myself, whether you can knock down your opponent’s king. In a casual game at home, without hard and fast rules, i suppose it could happen. Although this game feels anything but
casual to me!

Bleak story. It seems to me there can be no winners in this relationship. My interpretation was the boy was outdone by the father and that was the only future the child could foresee. Well done for creating a really repulsive character alongside one I felt so sorry for.

My reading is, that the boy, because of his youth and timidity, can’t see any alternative to obeying his father, since he finds the prospect of standing up to him, whatever the consequences, terrifying.

But the fact that it is frightening does not make it any less a choice. Perhaps,with time, he will gain the requisite courage.

To me this feels like the father needs to win… I see him having to give up his own education after taking a father’s responsibility… but hopefully the son will still be an engineer like the father always wanted.